The present invention relates to plastic security bags and more particularly to such bags used for secure transport and delivery of coins and other similar items that are transported in bulk from one location to another such as a retail facility to a bank.
One prior known description of these types of bags is found in U.K. published Patent Application GB2,238,291A, incorporated herein by reference, which includes a thermoplastic bag having front and back panels folded from a single sheet. The edges are marginally heat sealed with, if desired, security printing between the marginal side edges and transversely heat sealed adjacent one of the folded over edges and having a cut out part to form a carrying handle portion between the top fold of the sheet and the heat seal, a portion of the top folded over part outside the transverse heat seal, constitutes a flap to engage the other of the folded over parts, to close the bag when the flap is folded into contact with the other of the folded over parts to seal the bag.
The standard practice in the United States is to use canvas bags for coin transport. These bags are intended for return and re-use and are designed to carry 50 pounds of loose coins, usually of a single denomination (pennies, nickels, dimes, etc). Security is provided by straps around the bag neck secured by lead seals.
There is a need in the U.S. to use secure thermoplastic, disposable bags for transport of 50-pound coin loads. Since the bags must be handled manually during their journey, the bag should have design features enabling or facilitating hand pick up and carry of the bags. Security breaches and inadvertent opening must be prevented even when the bag is accidentally dropped or the loose contents shift during transport.
Although British Patent Application mentioned above purports a convenient design for handling such bags, various technical problems are inherently associated with the same, such as the thermostatic material tends to tear under heavy loads (lifting forces) at upper, outer ends of the handle opening. If the material ply is increased to off-set this problem, then the heat seals lose integrity. If the panel side slot opening is not fully closed upon sealing the bag, then the hot-melt adhesive on the flap extends through to the inside surface of the back panel. If a tamper evident flap seal is used and the coins shift toward the top of the bag during transport then the tamper feature can be falsely tripped by the shifting content. See U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/447,475 filed Nov. 23, 1999 by the same applicant hereof, incorporated herein by reference. Also, some coins will stick to adhesive after the bag is emptied.
The present invention solves the foregoing problems and provides further benefits and improvements in secure coin transport bags. One exemplary embodiment includes a thermoplastic coin bag with a false plastic panel extending above and below the handle opening and downward into the bag storage compartment to below the front panel transverse slot opening. This false or patch panel prevents shifting contents from falsely tripping the tamper evident feature by its adherence to the external closure adhesive if the slot opening is inadvertently or improperly spread during closure. Also, coins will not stick to the adhesive. In addition, the patch panel extends upward so that the upper part of the bag comprises 3 panel layers instead of two panel layers to increase the lifting strength and integrity of the handle and top bag areas. Multiple receipt options are easily extended from the top of the bag for the user, courier and/or processor.